
My holiday hustling mind was
instantly eased into celebration. I had not
only made my resolution, I had conquered it! January 1, 2014 was not a crash
diet/work-out regime….I did not get myself in motion until July, and even then I was slow to act. Procrastination
and lack of motivation were my only excuse.
I was perfectly capable of
eating right. I had done it many times. I just chose not to. Never really
having a gigantic weight problem, I figured I would “catch up later”. My Mom (at
72, who is always skinny, can walk faster than us all, and treats a
carbohydrate like the plaque) would always subtly hint, “they say obese people
got that way by gaining only 7 pounds a year…..” I would joke about the M&M’s,
brownies, and cookie dough… a true chocoholic to the core of my soul!

By the end of the month, my
pants starting loosening up and my sister proudly pointed out our success. I
reluctantly and big sisterly admitted that she was on to a good thing. Those
chocolate shakes and cookies had whittled me into my proper weight zone and
balanced my blood sugar in the process. I had a zip in my step, and strength
from my success as I continued to indulge myself in my chocolate laced world.
No longer did I crave a cheap imitation sugar fix, but started making healthy
choices and even started doing push ups again to balance and tone the body I
had newly created.
As a dog trainer by
profession, I visit many homes and see the inner workings of private lives. I have always noticed the effect of imbalance
in people’s lives and how it affects their dog. I have been blessed enough over
the years to be able to know who I can successfully help and who is going to
have trouble. Unfortunately, success has very little to do with the dog and
everything to do with balance of the human.
Not a psychologist by trade,
and with no desire to be one, I ended up having to guide people in finding
patience, breathing more, finding humor in chaos, and seeking strength in
working out with their dog. All this reasoning was with one intention…to
balance the dog.
However, as we strive to
balance the dog, we began to balance the home. I started noticing arguing
spouses beginning to show endearing behavior, and parents beginning to give
boundaries to unruly children.
I began to realize that
balancing the dog required a lot more than just teaching obedience and manners
to my K-9 client. Dog training became a complete life system that stretched way
beyond the dog. I have seen a dog rip a household apart, and stitch a family
together, all due to lack of balance. We are able to rehabilitate the dog with their family by re-building the
infrastructure. The chocolate shake helped re-build MY infrastructure; a
balance of my mind and body.

As I constantly learn to improve
myself, I can now help others improve the relationship with their dogs in new ways as a Usana Independent Consultant. I will always continue to train dogs and I
still have a fond memory of my love for M&M’s and Toll House, but my life
is more than ‘just’ a box of unhealthy chocolate!
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